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His Girl Friday

Hilarious romantic comedy starring Cary Grant and Rosalind Russell. Russell is rough and tumble reporter looking to get out of the news racket by marrying and becoming a house wife after her divorce from newspaper publisher Grant. Just when she is about to leave town with her husband-to-be the still lovesick Grant drafts her to cover one final breaking news sensation.

Along with plenty of laughs and fast paced dialog this film provides a witty and cynical look at news business.

There is a slight audio sync problem in the first couple minutes of the film. It is present on the source medium and is very brief.

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Reviews

This is considered the first screwball comedy. The fast pace of the lines tripping over each other was, in its time, novel and had audiences gasping for breath.

This story is, of course, The Front Page. A wonderful play performed by just about every college and high school drama department in America at some time in the last 90 years. There is an earlier version of the story here at the Archive with a male actor portraying Russell's part. But I think the romantic chemistry between the mixed gender protagonists adds another level to the comedy and double entendres.

There are also many insider jokes within the dialog. Grant mentions "Archie Leach" -- his own real name. He also calls the felon on the run "You Mock Turtle" -- the actor had just portrayed that character in Alice in Wonderland.

Corruption, cynicism, capital punishment - perfect elements for comedy. Grant's performance as a manipulative news editor is arguably his best, and Russel was coming right off of "The Women" and at the height of her career. Produced in 1940 and based in 1920s Chicago, the pace and the subject matter make it timeless.

Amazing performance by Cary Grant and Rosalind Russell. A must watch for all. The funniest character in the movie is the fat man who brings the orders of cancellation of hanging in the end of the movie. Enjoy.

Reviewer:clemenza44
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June 29, 2007 Subject:
Well acted and well done.

Grant and Russell give top notch performances in this decent comedy. But the print plays at the wrong speed, making it harder to enjoy.

It's Cary Grant doing what he does best being the sly sophisticated leading man it's hillarious!

Reviewer:PeterVan
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May 2, 2007 Subject:
Great movie - can't get it to sync

I've read the same complaint from other downloaders, but I haven't seen a solution. The film's sound is way out of sync after the first few minutes. I've tried the file on three computers with the same result. Any suggestions?

After I had downloaded and burned a dvd of this film, I discovered that I already had a copy (from the dollar store), so I compared the two. In the opening sequence, Rosalind Russell's hat looked solid black in the dollar store version. In the Internet Archive version, The hat was black and white stripes. Even the pictures on the cover of the commercial DVD were fuzzy.

The movie is fantastically funny. Watch for some of the ad-libbed lines by Cary Grant, like where he refers to some horrible fate suffered by the last person who crossed him: Archie Leach (Grants real name). When Earl Williams tries to get out of the roll-top desk, Burns (Grant) says: "Get back in there, you Mock Turtle". Williams played the Mock Turtle in Alice In Wonderland in 1933.

And if there hadn't been a competition between Russell and Grant over the dialogue, this movie might have been a slight disaster. What would make this movie better though, is a better print or preservation.

This definitely has to be one the of the best films that I have ever seen. I agree with another post that I'm still in disbelief that this film was available for download. I can't stress enough how wonderful this film is. Watch it now!

Though in the beginning the audio does not sync, with the picture, that is the only flaw. The film is excellent, has a great cast with superb talent. This film is surely and entertainer for anyone. If you want a fun film, and feel well, retro then check out His Girl Friday.

I have downloaded several versions of this film, (all actually) and I find that the opening credits are fine, but that is as far as it goes. The opening scenes have green dropouts, the soundtrack is off and after 5 minutes it looks like an old japaneese film. I have spent enough time downloading it.
If anyone else is having this problem, please let me know.
One star for transfer quality, 5 stars for the film itself.

You've just gotta watch this show if you are a Cary Grant buff. I can't find anything to complain about this movie. All I gotta say is... Love it, Love it, Love it. This brings back memories of the good ole' days, an era our youngin's will never know about other than watchin' shows like this when medal detectors and jeweled car keys were unheard of and the 20,000 leagues beneath the sea guy would never think about to write what is comin' or sumpin' like that. You know what I mean.

This film is a remake of "The Front Page" based on the play by Ben Hecht & Charles MacArthur. In the original, the writer is getting married and leaving town while the editor schemes to keep his ace reporter from leaving the paper. "The Front Page" has been made into a movie twice under that title; the original in 1931 with Adolphe Menjou & Pat O'Brien and the Bill Wilder directed version in 1974 with Walter Matthau, Jack Lemmon, Carol Burnett, Susan Sarandon & one of the best ensembles of character actors ever.
The ex-husband, ex-wife plot angle was created for "His Girl Friday" and made the story equally as entertaining as the original but unique in its own right. This version also got a remake in 1988 as "Switching Channels" starring Burt Reynolds, Kathleen Turner, Christopher Reeve and Ned Beatty. All four versions are worth seeing, but the Matthau-Lemmon and Grant-Russell versions are true classics.

I still can't believe that this is here. Get it and see what fast-talking comedy writing used to be. Even if you don't think it's as funny as some other comedies you've seen, you'll marvel at the nonstop wit. #19 on AFI's 100 Years, 100 Laughs.

Reviewer:Yellow_Pages
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April 15, 2005 Subject:
One of the best uploads so far!

As pretty much stated in the comments above this is one Cary Grants finer films. Pretty much on rotation for TCM for 4 months of the year or if your local pbs station plays maybe once or twice a year don't miss it. Better yet go ahead and download it you won't be sorry. The story line is flawless and if your in need of a good laugh you'll get plenty of them here. Noticed there is no link to the imdb on the page so here it is....http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0032599/